And that particular model of Shepard is the default. A lot of games where you can customize your character's appearance use the default versions in their cover artwork and promotional media. PSO certainly did that.

Do you have to play the first one to get into this one? 'Cause I tried, man, I really tried to get into Mass Effect years ago. Twice actually I bought and sold it (the yen / dollar exchange rate was really bangin' at that time) and I don't feel like playing through it just to play ME2, not with Resonance of Fate and Valkyria Chronicles 2 eating up all my free time now anyway.

According to the IGN review, playing the prequel deepens the experience. If you didn't like the first game, why would you bother with this one?

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Akira, this is totally off topic I know but how is Resonance of Fate? I had mixed feelings about the demo, but then it really just threw you into the combat system with little explanation. There was basically nothing on the world or characters in it.

According to Wikipedia and every other source I could find, Resonance of Fate isn't even out yet. Expected release date in Japan is Jan 28.

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I'm not really sold on the whole ammo thing so far. Also, while I'm glad they got rid of the dune buggy planet exploration tedium, they could have done something a lot more interesting than a slightly glorified Minesweeper. At least it's shorter, I guess. :P

Besides those two things, I'm enjoying it a good bit, even if it does seem a bit dumbed down at times.

The heat sink ammo thing was an unnecessary change. When they said they were introducing a heat sink system, I had thought they meant in the sense that you were discharging the heat in some futuristic method or something, and that you'd press it and be done with it, keeping you from firing shots non-stop yet not succumbing to the first game's "oh my weapon is overheated now it won't do anything for 8 seconds". Instead we now have disposable heat sinks which quite frankly, is retarded when you think about it. The whole concept of developing weapons that don't need ammo is pointless if you have to constantly replace something else instead.

I think I'd mind the heatsink thing less if they at least let you fire when you didn't have them but would go through the same long process of cool down - perhaps longer - when you ran out. Instead, they apparently just didn't care to try to better follow the original game's logic.

I definitely feel it's more of a shooter with RPG elements than the other way around, and I'm not quite sure what I think about that. It's objectively better I suspect, everything runs better and most of ME1's most annoying flaws are addressed, but as noted perhaps they went a bit TOO far, the ammo is definitely a case of that at least.

NOTE: I think Jeremy Parish's is most relevant to me, but Joystiq's is interesting in how someone who didn't care for the original falls in love with the new game.

I'm sort of worried about all this talk of battle system redesign and a more action-like system. I'm not too thrilled with the prospect of a glorified Halo, albeit with a stronger focus on story...I got into the series expecting an RPG with FPS-elements, not an FPS with RPG elements.

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I'd still say it's an RPG first, shooter second. The focus is still the characters, plot, etc. The gameplay is not the centerpiece, it just happens to be inspired heavily by Gears of War, though still remaining not-as-hectic. Borderlands is an example of a game that's a shooter first, RPG second... the gameplay is the crux of the enjoyment. No one plays Borderlands for its characters or narrative.

The ammo magazine is a simple block of metal. The gun's internal computer calculates the mass needed to reach the target based on distance, gravity, and atmospheric pressure, then shears off an appropriate sized slug from the block. A single block can supply thousands of rounds, making ammo a non-issue during any engagement.

So there IS ammo though its pretty much gonna last you through any engagment. I honestly don't mind the clip system. I also love the "wah its not rpg enough wah" From what ive played so far, its simply more fluid, but *shrug*. Still a great game. So was DA:O..those of you that got bored with it...I feel sorry for ya, I do *hug*

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-Give a man a fire, and hes warm for a day. Light a man on fire, and hes warm for the rest of his life.-

I'd still say it's an RPG first, shooter second. The focus is still the characters, plot, etc. The gameplay is not the centerpiece, it just happens to be inspired heavily by Gears of War, though still remaining not-as-hectic. Borderlands is an example of a game that's a shooter first, RPG second... the gameplay is the crux of the enjoyment. No one plays Borderlands for its characters or narrative.

The comments have been more about gameplay rather than narrative (which is another argument altogether on just how much of a claim RPGs have on that), as far as narrative and character interactions go it's inarguably on the same level as ME1 for the most part, though it was a little weaker there at the start. I'll need to play further before really getting a feel on some of this and seeing the full ramifications, but beyond improving how combat worked in general there's definitely less configuration as far as equipment and abilities go, and they've even made some decisions that seem kind of silly - no maps for combat areas, just a pointer you can call up to point to the objective? Seriously?

I don't mind it on a whole thus far though, perhaps because I just came off of Dragon Age and was getting sick of fretting about what equipment to throw on who and what was safe to sell, and part of the intent may be to further distinguish the two games. Still, this seems to be a (hopefully mild) case of throwing out the baby with the bath water.